Blade Runner 2049 – John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover
There are about 1,200 visual effects shots throughout Blade Runner 2049, from Weta Workshop-made practical minatures (entire mini-buildings were built), to CGI touch-ups to the environments, and the camera/computer effects in the creation of Ana de Armas' JOI, and in particular her syncing sequence. Oh, and a young Sean Young.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick
The first Guardians of the Galaxy was most renowned for its CGI creations of Rocket Racoon and Groot, here the same tricks are played with the addition of Groot in baby form, with much work done on enhancing their facial expressions, body movements etc. And of course there's more of the usual in the way of different planets, space battles, space thingies.
Kong: Skull Island – Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus
Some mo-cap work that was apparently intended as a throwback to the 1930s Kong, while utilizing very 21st Century effects to bring it to life, as well as a series of strange big nasty creatures, lots of Apocalypse Now-esque explosions, and some aurora borealis for good measure.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould
The usual Star Wars effects on this front: lightsabers, space battles, new little space critters the Porgs, those alien horses on the casino planet, and a more fully fleshed-out, detailed Snoke (mo-cap work by Andy Serkis once again).
War for the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist
More mo-cap work by Andy Serkis in this, the final refinement of the whole process of the new Planet of the Apes trilogy - about 30 percent of the film was shot at Weta Digital studios, where cameras capture the movements/facial expressions of actors through multiple sensors across their bodies and faces.
Ranking the nominees,
5. Kong: Skull Island
I'd say this is once again a year with a few predictable, but strong choices. I'm not a huge fan of how the big ape looks here from a subjective perspective - I prefer the Peter Jackson version myself - but there's nothing wrong with it from an objective perspective. It's good, solid CGI on the whole which creates the intended effect of a pulpy blockbuster feel it's going for.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Effective work, though perhaps less impressive/innovative in contrast to the first film. I liked the new planets, I liked the effects used to make Kurt Russell godlike, and I particularly liked the stuff done with Baby Groot, but I'm not the biggest fan of the opening sequence, and there are a few moments which went a bit too cartoonish for my liking.
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Solid work as usual, though the top 2 here are certainly in a different league. The film is largely quite visually stunning, apart from Canto Bright which while technically fine seems a bit at odds with the rest of the film's aesthetic tone. The rest of the effects are mostly pretty great. Snoke looks a great deal better in his final form, the battles on Crait are particularly well handled, the Porgs are convincing, and perhaps the most spectacular moment, the lightspeed crash scene, is great minimalist visual effects in action. Also, bonus points for striking a fine balance between the CGI Prequels Yoda and the OT puppet Yoda.
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
All that can be said for these effects is how impressively realized these apes now are, to the point that you believe them as real, living, breathing apes. Bonus points for the beautifully rendered Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) who is almost as immaculately expressive and well-rendered as Caesar himself.
1. Blade Runner 2049
Exquisite work on all fronts, most of what there is to talk about the beauty of the visuals I've covered with Deakins, so here I'll focus on what might be my favourite use of CGI in all of 2017. John Nelson, in an interview with Digital Trends (https://www.digitaltrends.com/movies/blade-runner-2049-visual-effects-john-nelson/) described how they utilized a different approach to the usual method of creating holograms in films, with the effect of 'the merge' created by recording de Armas and Mackenzie Davis' performances from different angles, and mapping them together through the 'volume' of the space the camera recorded their movements in, 'mapping' them onto a geometry surface and allowing the computers to play with them syncing in and out of one another without seeming like mirages. I don't really know how clear whatever I just wrote is, so just take a look at the above video to marvel at the extent of special effects work done here. It's mesmerizing how seamless the effects in this scene, as well as many other scenes, works.
I've seen everything except 2049 here - nice write ups with some complementary videos.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteThe only choice for number 1, though War's work is masterful as well.
ReplyDeleteThis was my easiest choice, by far.
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